A Stray Bullet
by luvnlivn
Summary: Brooke had the perfect life. A mom and dad who loved her and great friends. Unfortunately, perfect doesn’t last forever. Everything suddenly ended thanks to a stray bullet.
1. Introductions

_Hey everybody. This is my first fanfic and I hope everybody likes it… I've KINDA based off of my own life experiences… But only kind of. Anyways, let me know what you think!_

_**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing except for Alexandria at this point. And the plot line, of couse.**_

_Summary: Brookelyn Penelope McCann had the perfect life. A mom and dad who loved her and great friends. Unfortunately, perfect doesn't last forever. Everything suddenly ended thanks to a stray bullet and a string of bad events._

Chapter 1

It's never something you expect, for your mother to die. The mother who raised you and gave you the wonderful life you're accustomed to. The beautiful woman who comforted you when you cried and congratulated you when you excelled.

My mom is, quite possibly, the most amazing person alive. I shook my head. Was. She was the most amazing person alive. God, that was hard to even think let alone say. Which I haven't yet, by the way. I figured I would get that out now so you can scold me about the five stages of grief and healing and blah blah blah.

I stare out the window of the plane at the flat land of whatever Midwest state we happened to be flying over at the time. I never imagined myself here. Not here, physically, on a plane. I mean here, philosophically. Heading to a town I've never been to in order to live with a father I don't remember and his new family. All because of a stray bullet and a string of bad events

_FLASHBACK_

"_Dance, Dance. We're falling apart to half time. Dance, Dance. And these are the lives you'd love to lead. Dance. This is the way they'd love if they knew how misery loved me." Brooke sang loudly as she danced around in her pajamas. Her stereo was blaring in her bedroom so you could hear it through the whole house._

_Patricia, Brooke's mom, came out of her bedroom with her hair in a poofy ponytail. Her bleary eyes found her 16-year-old daughter. She laughed despite her anger at being woken up so early. Her little Brookie has always been a morning person and she always had so much energy._

_Brooke spotted her mom watching her and broke into a huge grin. "Good morning, Mom!" She ran across the living room and jumped into her mother's arms, then kissed her on the cheek._

"_Good morning, Brookie," Patricia said, smoothing Brooke's hair lovingly. "Did you sleep well?"_

"_Of course. I always do!" She danced into the kitchen and poured her mother a cup of coffee. They both started to dance around the kitchen and Brooke handed her the coffee._

_Suddenly, the music turned off and they both froze. "Uh oh… Sounds like your Dad's awake…" said Patricia. They grimaced at each other._

"_Brookelyn Penelope McCann!" exclaimed Brooke's step-dad, Jacob, as he stalked into the kitchen. "What have I told you about listening to that crap first thing in the morning?" They were all silent for a minute as Brooke tried her hardest to suppress a grin. Jacob pulled a remote out of his pocket. "You know I like to wake up to my man, Mr. Buffett!" The stereo in the living room began playing Jimmy Buffett's "Pina Coladas"._

_Brooke groaned. "Oh God, Dad!" _

_Jacob began doing a twist-type motion. (Typical oldie dance!) "Come on, Brookie! You can dance to this, too!"_

_Brooke rolled her eyes at her mom as they both started to laugh. "Alright, but I'm going to need some help for this one." She grabbed her mom's hand with one hand and picked up her giggling 1-year-old daughter in the other arm. They all danced around the living room for a while before sitting down to breakfast. This was a typical morning in the McCann house. Soon, Patricia would go to her room to straighten her hair and she and Jacob would get ready for work while Brooke got herself and her daughter ready to head to the high school. There would be hugs and kisses all around and then they would drive off in their cars for another day with promises to meet at home for dinner. They all loved each other and got along great. Everything was perfect._

_END FLASHBACK_

I sighed and looked over to check that Alaina was still asleep. Ali, as I called her, had turned two about a month ago. I was happy that she wasn't really old enough to understand what was going on around her. I looked at the phone on the seatback in front of me for a moment before picking it up. I punched in my credit number then dialed another familiar number. After a couple of rings, a gruff male voice answered. "Hello?"

My eyes filled with tears instantly at the sound of his voice. "Hi Daddy," I choked out.

I heard him sigh. "Oh Brookie. Hi, sweetie. How are you? Where are you?"

"I'm… OK. I think we're flying over Oklahoma but I'm not sure. I miss you."

"I miss you too, babygirl. But I have some good news," he said while fighting back his own tears.

"What's that?" I asked hopefully.

"I talked to my lawyer today. She said I have a really good chance of getting you and Ali back home before too long."

I smiled. "That is good news. I can't wait to come back home. I hate Tree Hill already and I'm not even there yet."

"I know, sweetie. Just try to make the best of it. At least for Ali, OK?"

I nodded. "I know. I'll try. I better get off the phone before I run up this credit card."

"Don't even worry about that," said Jacob somewhat sternly. "If you want to keep talking I will talk to you all day and pay the bill."

"I know, Daddy. Thank you. And you know I will be taking you up on that offer. But Ali's stating to wake up so I'd better go."

"Alright. Tell Ali-Cat that I love her and I love you, too. And I'll see you soon, OK?"

"OK, Daddy. I love you so much. Bye." I hung up the phone as the tears I was holding back began to fall. I cried until the pilot announced the decent into Charlotte, North Carolina and Ali woke up. Then I wiped away my tears and put on a strong façade for my daughter.

**Well, that was it for Chapter One. What did you think? Let me know, good or bad! Should I continue??? Please review! Thanks!**


	2. Welcome to Tree Hill

_Author's Note: I'm glad that so many people liked the first chapter of this story. Here's the second one. Let me know what you think!!! Thanks!_

_**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing except for Alexandria at this point. And the plot line, of couse.**_

_Summary: Brookelyn Penelope McCann had the perfect life. A mom and dad who loved her and great friends. Unfortunately, perfect doesn't last forever. Everything suddenly ended thanks to a stray bullet and a string of bad events._

Getting off of an airplane and finding your luggage by yourself is enough of a hassle. Good freakin luck when you've got a fussy 2-year-old clinging to you.

I pushed my way through the crowd with Ali riding on the luggage cart I had found with her car seat next to her. I finally found our luggage claim and waited for our bags. Most of our stuff had been taken by movers but I had packed a bag of clothes and necessities for each of us.

"Mommy…" sniffled Ali. "I want you to hold me…"

"Not right now, baby, OK? Mommy has to get our bags so we can get out of here." I looked again and still did not see them, so I looked back down at her. Big mistake. Ali was staring up at me with her beautiful puppy-dog eyes and my heart nearly broke. "OK, you win. Come here."

She smiled and jumped into my arms. I snuggled her close and breathed in her wonderful baby smell. "What are we doing here Mommy?" she asked. "Where's Grandpa?"

I stroked her hair. "We have to live with some other people for a little while but we'll see Grandpa soon." At that time, I saw our bags and grabbed them. With one hand, I threw them onto the cart, then steered for the exit with Ali secured on my other hip. Being a mom had taught me balance and multi-tasking, if nothing else.

As I walked out of the airport, I wasn't sure what to expect. My "father" has said someone would pick me up from the airport, but he didn't know who. She looked around for a while before spotting three teenagers (two guys and a girl) off to the side. The girl was hanging onto one of the guy's backs while the other guy held a sign that simply had "Brooke" scrawled across it in chicken scratch.

I kissed Ali's cheek and hucked her higher on my hip. "Here goes nothing, Baby." I pushed the cart towards the group. "You guys must be our ride."

They all looked at me warily. The girl shimmied off the guy's back and walked towards me. "You're Brooke Scott?" she asked.

"Brooke McCann, actually. Dan Scott is nothing more than my sperm donor," I said while smiling and extending my hand to her.

She smiled and shook my hand. "Wish I could say that. I'm Haley Scott-Roe. I guess I'm your half-sister. This is Lucas Roe, my best friend," she said while pointing to the blonde guy holding the sign. "And this… is my husband, Nathan Roe. They're twins.

I shook all of their hands. "Nice to meet you sister, best friend and… apparently, brother-in-law." We all smiled. "Well Haley, I guess if we are sisters then that makes this adorable little girl," I smiled down at Ali and bounced her upside down a little bit. She smiled and giggled because she knew I was talking about her. "Your niece, Alaina Brookelyn McCann.

Haley gasped and looked like she was about to have a heart attack from the excitement. "Oh my God! I can't believe it. I get a sister and a niece all in one day. Dan didn't say anything about you having a baby."

I shrugged. "He never asked."

She laughed. "Well, this is going to be great. I always wanted a sister. All I have are three brothers! Talk about awful!"

I nodded like I knew what she meant, then we loaded into the car. Nathan was driving and Lucas was in the front with him which left me, Ali and Haley in the back. "…I was so excited when Dan told me about you. Like I said, I always wanted a sister. Although, I'm for the circumstances which caused your move…"

I looked at her strangely before realizing that she was talking about my mom. "Oh… thanks." She nodded and we were all quiet for a minute. Ali was playing a book I had brought for her. "So," I finally said. "If you don't mind my asking, why do you call your father by his first name?"

"Oh. Dan and I… well… we don't really get and along. Not at all. We pretty much hate each other. My brothers feel the same way as I do."

"Great," I responded. "I already don't want to be here and now I have to deal with my sperm donor, who is apparently a big jerk."

"Well, look at this way," said Haley cheerily. "At we're all on a united front against him."

I shrugged then stared out the window. "I guess so." Everyone got quiet after that.

After about two hours of driving, we passed a sign that said "Welcome to Tree Hill". Despite myself, I felt my stomach clench with a tiny bit of excitement mixed with a lot of nerves. I figured it just had to do with being in a new place. I peeked down at Ali who had started to get a little fussy about twenty miles ago.

I turned to Haley. "Do you guys have a P-A-R-K around here anywhere?"

Haley nodded. "Yeah, it's not too far from here."

"Do you think we could stop there before we go to your house? Ali needs to burn off some of her energy."

"Of course we can," said Haley while smiling down at Ali.

Nathan pulled into the parking lot of an adorable little park about five minutes later. I unbuckled Ali and pulled her out of the car. As soon as she saw where we were, she squealed loudly with excitement. "The park! The park! Yay!" She started to take off as soon as I put her down, but I grabbed her arm in time.

"Alaina Brookelyn McCann! You know the rules at the park! You stay with Mommy unless I say it's OK to go."

"Awww man…" she complained. "Sorry Mommy."

"It's OK. Just remember the rule, OK? This is a new park for us. We don't know what kind of people are here, do we?" Ali shook her head. I turned to look at Haley, Lucas and Nathan. "Thanks for stopping here. You don't have to stay if you don't want to. You can just give me the address and I'll find my way."

Haley shrugged. "Well, I'd like to stay and hang out with you if that's OK…"

Lucas reached into the back of the car. "Yeah, it's cool," he said producing a basketball. "Nate and I can shoot around until you're ready to go."

I definitely wasn't used to strangers being this flexible and nice. I nodded. "OK. Thank you."

Nathan gave Haley a kiss, then we parted ways. Haley and I followed Ali around the park with me, of course, on high alert for potential threats.

After a while, Haley said softly, "You know, we're like, the only people at the park. Nothing is going to happen to her if we sit down on the bench over there." She pointed to a bench not too far away.

I looked at the bench, then I looked at Ali and finally nodded. "OK," I said to Haley. "Ali! Mommy and Aunt Haley are going to be on this bench over here, OK? Just call me if you need me."

"OK Mommy!" she called back.

Haley and I walked to the bench and sat down. I finally tore my eyes from Ali and looked at Haley. "So, what's the deal with this place?"

"What do you mean?" asked Haley slightly confused.

"I mean, like, what school do you go to? Who do you hang out with? What do you do in a town this small?

She thought about it for a minute. "Well, I go to Tree Hill High School. I mostly hang out with our core group of friends. There's Jake and Peyton, who have been together for a long time. Skills and Bevin have been together for about a year. There's Rachel, who nobody really likes but for some reason we let her hang out with us. Mouth and Shelly just started dating about three months ago, but they are so cute together. Then there's Nathan and I. We've been together since sixth grade and got married at the end of sophomore year. And Luke… well, he's our loner. He goes on dates sometimes, but enjoys hanging with us or being by himself for the most part."

"Wow… OK, well, I've already forgotten most of those names." We both laughed. "So, married in high school, huh? How did that happen?"

"Well," said Haley, smiling a huge grin. "Like, I said, we were together for a long time. We've always been kinda spontaneous and Nathan asked and I said yes. Our parents signed off, and the next thing I knew we were exchanging vows on the beach. It was beautiful."

I smiled at her. I could see the love she had for Nathan written all over her face. It was refreshing to see. I looked over to check on Ali, saw that she was OK, then turned back to Haley. "So you didn't answer my other question. What do you all DO together?"

"OK," said Haley. "Well, we mostly hang out and Nate and Luke's house since their parents are, like, all of our substitute parents. But on the weekends, we go to Tric."

"Tric? What's that? It sounds familiar." I tried to think of where I had heard the name before.

"It's our nightclub. Payton and Karen, Nate and Luke's mom, own and run it. They've had lots of really cool bands play there."

I gasped. "That's how I've heard the name. Fall Out Boy has played there before, right?"

Haley nodded. "Yeah. A couple times, actually."

"Oh my God. That is freakin awesome! Fall Out Boy is my favorite band! See?" I pulled the sleeve of my jacket up to show her where I had "FOB" tattooed on the inside of my wrist.

She looked at it for a second, then grabbed my hand. "That's the exact same tattoo all the guys got when they were in Las Vegas!"

"Uh huh… I know. I got it with them," I said proudly.

She looked at me quizzically. "What do you mean?"

I reached into my purse and pulled out a small photo album. Most of it was filled with pictures of Ali and my parents, but there was one treasured picture I also had blown-up and framed in my room. I flipped it open to the page and showed it to her.

Her eyes widened as she saw the picture. "Oh my God! That's you with Pete… and Patrick… and Joe… and and… OH MY GOD!!!!" She studied the picture for a minute. "And who's this?"

I looked at the picture and had to swallow past the lump in my throat. "That's my mom. She had taken me to the tattoo parlor because we were going to get tattoos together. The guys just happened to walk in while we were looking at the samples. We all got to talking and next thing you know, six tattoos, please…" I looked away and wiped the tears from my eyes.

"That's really cool," said Haley after a minute.

"Yeah…" I said quietly. Then I shook my head. "So, what do you say we get going to your house? I'm starving."

"Ugh… me too! Alright, let's go." We called Ali over, then Lucas and Nathan and we all piled into the car, heading for me new home. And the dreaded Dan Scott.

_I know… it's a little extreme to have Brooke know the guys from FOB, but they are my absolute favorite band so I had to put them in where I could… So what did you think???_


End file.
